“Little one, did you just manipulate time?” Na’Vi said with a serious expression as he descended from the sky. For the first time during this encounter did his face turn stern.
Ryu looked like he’s in a bad shape now. He’s panting for air and barely have any trace of Qi in him. He has depleted his first Qi reservoir using his specialization, Time Dilation, and his second one using Superman-Mode. The only thing he could do is nod weakly at Na’Vi.
The three staring at Ryu already had their suspicions but after Ryu confirmed it, they were even more surprised. Manipulating time was something that few could do. It was a power from the legends. It was very rare to see three supreme experts with millions of years between them to be astonished.
Cao’Po’Li whispered to Na’Vi and Vi’Ta’En, “A specialization related to time…? That’s definitely against the will of the Gods.”
Na’Vi and Vi’Ta’En exchanged a mysterious look before smiling at Ryu. Obviously they didn’t want to frighten him.
Vi’Ta’En put her hand above Ryu’s head and suddenly his stamina slowly got replenished. “Don’t worry, this is a form of our shaman healing arts.”
“You really are not simple. To manipulate time… none of us here could do it. It’s only within this Astral Spirit Temple, one of our national treasures, that we could manipulate time, space and reality.” Na’Vi said with admiration.
“It seems I was wrong. This kid might just be able to fulfill our wishes. It seems our dying wishes could be answered.” Cao’Po’Li said with new found respect.
“Why can’t you guys seek help from other experts?” Ryu asked curiously. As three unimaginably strong experts, it seems odd that they can’t find help.
“We did consider that at first. Although the Heaven Continent is considered to be one of the weaker continents, they do have their fair share of experts. My father often spoke highly of the ancestor of Shaolin Temple saying how he is a mysterious supreme expert that is not any less powerful than him. The weird thing is that with such an expert, the fame of the Heaven Continent is still so low. However, the reason we did not approach any powers for help is because we have already been branded as traitors. We did not wish to be exposed after successfully evading capture and hiding here. Also the Sky Continent can be ranked as the third strongest continent in my opinion, any organization that is caught helping us would be wiped out.” Na’Vi explained.
“Before you absorb our essences please take these. We didn’t have much on us since we had to escape from our homeland abruptly.” Vi’Ta’En said as she waved her hand. Various items popped up beside them. There were various instruments that gave off more Qi than any weapons Ryu had seen. There were also three staffs. Each were made of special looking wood but at the tip were gigantic pearls that’s almost the size of his head. Right beside the staff were a few crystals and rings. Then at the very end was two medium sized rocks and an old gauntlet that Na’Vi collected from the Dark Continent intruder from the memory Ryu just saw earlier. It was completely black with a few outline of gold along the edges and it gave off no aura. Somehow this mysterious gauntlet could dislodge the stone that contains an Infinity Tome from the sacred Tome. However, Ryu’s focus was obviously on the two rocks.
“These items were all we had when we fled from our homeland. In the hands of my real body within the casket holds the Key of Babylon. It’s our greatest treasure, passed down from each king of the Sky Continent since the beginning of time. With it you can summon forth the Great Spirit which--” Na’Vi was explaining slowly when suddenly Ryu interrupted him for the first time.
“If I can have the two tomes, I can definitely save you guys.” Ryu said excitedly as he stared at what appears to be two ordinary rocks in front of him.
The trio didn’t understand why Ryu was so excited. Out of all the items displayed, the rocks were the most ordinary. Although it came from the scared dome, there is nothing special about them.
“Were you listening little kid? We can’t be saved, if we could why did we wait almost a million years in here?” Cao’Po’Li said impatiently. The prince was talking about the Key of Babylon! The most prized possession of the shamans, this item struck fear to any opponents and was envied by all. Yet Ryu wasn’t interested in it at all.
“The poison that is killing our prince is too profound. I’m ashamed to say that even as the High Priest I am unable to cure him and so he was forced to suspend his body’s time. The only thing keeping us alive is this Astral Spirt Temple that can manipulate time, space and reality.” Vi’Ta’En said gently, ignoring Cao’Po’Li.
Ryu hesitated for a second. From the outside he clearly looked conflicted. Na’Vi held his hand to signal Cao’Po’Li to stop talking and waited for Ryu to speak.
“Your majesty…I have a confession to make…” Ryu said slowly. Then with a single breath, “I’ve visited a scared cave similar to the one in your memories. In it also contained a scared rock that floated in the middle of the room. It granted me many abilities, one of them is a second reservoir. I believe you call it soul. This was why I was able to beat this elder previously.”
“Impossible! Only Deity Level beings can enter the ancient cave. Second soul? What are you smoking boy?” Cao’Po’Li exclaimed. Na’Vi and Vi’Ta’En were both equally surprised but they composed themselves better than their counterpart.
“Please explain more little one.” Na’Vi said as he listened intently as Vi’Ta’En hushed Cao’Po’Li.
Ryu narrated how he was just a regular kid training in the Inferno Fist School but he collects herbs at night for his sick grandpa. This was made easy by his affinity with Qi and the fact that he can see them. Later he was kidnapped from a town and taken to the sacred cave by Alexis. When he entered the cave there was nothing inside except the floating rock. Then what happened next couldn’t be explained properly since he was kind of unconscious. Later the Fairy Lady and Alexis did battle, the latter was completely dominated and perished. Then he found out about his second reservoir during his three year training in the forest. Then Ryu started talking about the Infinity Tome and its unworldly aptitude to grant him perfect memory and extraordinary storage abilities. However, the second Qi reservoir is unique and has an object inside it that is absorbing a major portion of his cultivation.
During Ryu’s narration Cao’Po’Li tried his best to hold it in but bursted out once again when the Infinity Tome was mentioned.
“An invisible book? Really? Show us.” Cao’Po’Li said with skepticism.
“Weren’t you listening? It is visible only to him you old fool, stop interrupting.” Vi’Ta’En said angrily.
“The ability to see Qi… I’ve never heard of that. Could it be one of the Forgotten Professions? That’s simply one of the most amazing things I’ve heard of, can you explain more?” Na’Vi asked gently.
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“As long as I could remember, practicing Qi has been really easy for me. I can do any Qi exercises on my first try. If I want, I can see the world in pure Qi. Seeing Qi flow through weapons, medicine, or even the seventeen Qi channels in a person’s body are all possible. This also lets me see the Qi flows from the essences in front of me. The right one has a bit of a fast and forceful flow that’s connected to elder Cao’s body while the other two has a slow rhythmic flow. The Qi from all three are pure however, so that’s how I know you guys are not bad guys.” Ryu answered.
“This is unheard of… along with such talent and having this mystic tome by your side...” Vi’Ta’En muttered slowly. This was a lot for anyone to process.
“Prince Na’Vi, I don’t need your essences nor your treasures. The Key of Babylon is something your father, the king, bestowed upon you. Right now my tome is damaged and if you could teach me how to repair a soul weapon that’ll be good enough for me.” Ryu pleaded.
“A soul weapon… is something formed with your soul but it doesn’t have a will of its own like you mentioned. Also granting a user a second Qi reservoir is definitely unheard of.” Na’Vi said slowly. “However, please continue your tale and we’ll see what we can do to help you.”
Ryu quickly mentioned what happened during the three years of training and the encounter he had with the mysterious monkey beast expert that gifted him a set of skills when he left the forest. Na’Vi’s expression changed once again when he heard that, it seems he has an idea who created that set of skills. Then Ryu mentioned how he rescued Ling-Yu and Ling-Er from Fang-Da on his way out of the forest. Afterwards he explained how he cured his grandpa’s illness, discovered his origins and inherited a mysteriously high grade blood stone that induces a nightmare. Based on the fact he can’t stay in town with his grandpa, Ryu decided to head to the Yasha province to seek out his grandpa’s brother. On the way he heard of the Five-Colored Lightning fruit, met the Han-So Tribe by chance, and the fought with the bandits that resulted in the damaging of the Infinity Tome.
As the trio listened to Ryu’s story, they couldn’t help but be amused and astounded at the same time. Even for accomplished people like them, cultivating at such high speed wasn’t possible for them. Also the Infinity Tome sounds too powerful to be real. If such an item exists, how could they not know about it?
“I have no idea who the mysterious Fairy Lady might be but the set of profound stick moves… should be from the Great Sage Equal of Heaven. When I first passed my first Rebirth, he visited me secretly one night and dueled with me. If I had to describe him… then it would be unfathomably powerful beyond words. I doubt even my father could have won with the Key of Babylon.” Na’Vi said.
“What? My prince, you met with The Legendary Abnormally that clashed with the gods and became known as a God Slayer? I thought he was nothing more than a folktale!” Cao’Po’Li exclaimed. Clearly the creator of Ryu’s stick techniques was someone infamous.
“I didn’t mean to keep it from you master Cao, it’s just that he made me promise not to reveal his existence. I wouldn’t be surprised if he detected me with his divine sense from the opposite end of the world. Anyways, he had many specializations that should have been impossible to achieve. One allowed him to multiply an endless army of clones.” Na’Vi said with admiration.
“I wonder if he’s still in this world or in another plane of existence.” Vi’Ta’En mused.
“How old are you little one?” Na’Vi asked as he realized that the time span in which Ryu received the Infinity Tome and ending up here was relatively short.
“I’m thirteen this year.” Ryu answered. Another series of gasps came from the three experts. Cao’Po’Li is the worst at hiding his expression so his flabbergasted face just keeps getting more staggered.
“Amazing… truly amazing… and this second Qi reservoir granted from the Infinity Tome, the specialization granted gives you absolute control over people? What are its exact limits?” Vi’Ta’En questioned cautiously. It’s as if she’s speaking of a tabooed subject.
“My first specialization is Absolute Agreement. As long as the opposing party agrees to my terms and condition, they’ll be bound by it for life. My second specialization is Unconditional Treaty. This allows me to change my terms and conditions any time to people bound to me by agreement. I can also take control of their body if I like. The third specialization is also built on top of the first one, as long as I defeat my opponents or have them at my mercy I can bind them into my Absolute Agreement.” Ryu answered.
Yet another series of gasps came from Na’Vi and his masters.
“Impossible, a specialization built on top of another? This is unheard of. Throughout the millions of years of history, no one has accomplished something like this.” Cao’Po’Li exclaimed. He stared at Ryu as if he’s staring at some sort of freak.
“Compared to his space and time specializations, this is much more unique and forbidden.” Vi’Ta’En said solemnly.
“Ryu don’t be afraid. It seems that what you have accomplished is a bit more unique. We just haven’t encountered something like this before.” Na’Vi said gently to calm Ryu now. Ryu was a bit panicky seeing their shocked expression.
A black shadow descended and Ryu looked up. It was the dragon from the second trial! Its dominating blue flames flowed from his nostrils and a giant fireball was stuck at the tip of its tail.
“This is my companion, Flampy. It’s the only living being inside this temple that’s not in a suspended state. Show us this skill. Flampy, be a good boy and agree to his conditions.” Cao’Po’Li said to the intimidating dragon.
“Umm… do you agree to obey me for the next five minutes?” Ryu spoke nicely to the menacing dragon. He still remembered its unworldly might.
With an arrogant puff, it nodded. Suddenly the dragon sat down and crossed its arms. Then it stood up. Then sat down again. Without a warning it started walking in circles. It took a split second for Cao’Po’Li to realize that his pet was doing the same movements as Ryu.
“Unbelievable…” This was the only word Na’Vi could murmur out. Ryu continued to demonstrate his dominance over the dragon with verbal commands.
“I release you from our agreement.” Ryu said after he felt like he had demonstrated enough.
Na’Vi, Vi’Ta’En, and Cao’Po’Li started speaking amongst themselves. Ryu couldn’t hear much but he did pick out the words “against the will of the gods” many times. Understandably what Ryu did was out of this world to them. Cao’Po’Li had been shocked earlier on but Na’Vi and Vi’Ta’En lost their previously calm composure and expressed their amazement as well now.